​🎉 ∞ Pre-Announcements

​🏁 0. Prerequisites

​🧙♂ Mandatory skills for stake pool operators

As a stake pool operator for Cardano, you will be competent with the following abilities:

• operational knowledge of how to set up, run and maintain a Cardano node continuously

• a commitment to maintain your node 24/7/365

• system operation skills

• server administration skills (operational and maintenance).

​🧙 Mandatory experience for stake pool operators

• experience of development and operations (DevOps)

• experience on how to harden and secure a server.

• ​passed the official Stake Pool School course.​

​🎗 Minimum Stake Pool Hardware Requirements

• Two separate servers: 1 for block producer node, 1 for relay node

• One air-gapped offline machine (cold environment)

• Operating system: 64-bit Linux (i.e. Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS)

• Processor: An Intel or AMD x86 processor with two or more cores, at 2GHz or faster

• Memory: 8GB of RAM

• Storage: 20GB of free storage

• Internet: Broadband internet connection with speeds at least 10 Mbps.

• Data Plan: at least 1GB per hour. 720GB per month.

• Power: Reliable electrical power

• ADA balance: at least 505 ADA for pool deposit and transaction fees

​🏋♂ Recommended Future-proof Stake Pool Hardware Setup

• Three separate servers: 1 for block producer node, 2 for relay nodes

• One air-gapped offline machine (cold environment)

• Operating system: 64-bit Linux (i.e. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS)

• Processor: 4 core or higher CPU

• Memory: 8GB+ of RAM

• Storage: 256GB+ SSD

• Internet: Broadband internet connections with speeds at least 100 Mbps

• Data Plan: Unlimited

• Power: Reliable electrical power with UPS

• ADA balance: more pledge is better, to be determined by a0, the pledge influence factor

​🔓 Recommended Stake Pool Security

If you need ideas on how to harden your stake pool's nodes, refer to

​🛠 Setup Ubuntu

If you need to install Ubuntu Server, refer to

For instructions on installing Ubuntu Desktop, refer to the following:

​🧱 Rebuilding Nodes

If you are rebuilding or reusing an existing cardano-node installation, refer to section 18.2 on how to reset the installation.​

​🏭 1. Install Cabal and GHC

If using Ubuntu Desktop, press Ctrl+Alt+T. This will launch a terminal window.

First, update packages and install Ubuntu dependencies.

sudo apt-get update -y

sudo apt-get upgrade -y

sudo apt-get install git jq bc make automake rsync htop curl build-essential pkg-config libffi-dev libgmp-dev libssl-dev libtinfo-dev libsystemd-dev zlib1g-dev make g++ wget libncursesw5 libtool autoconf -y

Install Libsodium.

mkdir $HOME/git
cd $HOME/git
git clone https://github.com/input-output-hk/libsodium
cd libsodium
git checkout 66f017f1
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install
​

sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libsodium.so.23.3.0 /usr/lib/libsodium.so.23

Install Cabal.

cd
wget https://downloads.haskell.org/~cabal/cabal-install-3.2.0.0/cabal-install-3.2.0.0-x86_64-unknown-linux.tar.xz
tar -xf cabal-install-3.2.0.0-x86_64-unknown-linux.tar.xz
rm cabal-install-3.2.0.0-x86_64-unknown-linux.tar.xz cabal.sig
mkdir -p $HOME/.local/bin
mv cabal $HOME/.local/bin/

Install GHC.

wget https://downloads.haskell.org/ghc/8.10.2/ghc-8.10.2-x86_64-deb9-linux.tar.xz
tar -xf ghc-8.10.2-x86_64-deb9-linux.tar.xz
rm ghc-8.10.2-x86_64-deb9-linux.tar.xz
cd ghc-8.10.2
./configure
sudo make install

Update PATH to include Cabal and GHC and add exports. Your node's location will be in $NODE_HOME. The cluster configuration is set by $NODE_CONFIG and $NODE_BUILD_NUM.

echo PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" >> $HOME/.bashrc
echo export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" >> $HOME/.bashrc
echo export NODE_HOME=$HOME/cardano-my-node >> $HOME/.bashrc
echo export NODE_CONFIG=mainnet>> $HOME/.bashrc
echo export NODE_BUILD_NUM=$(curl https://hydra.iohk.io/job/Cardano/iohk-nix/cardano-deployment/latest-finished/download/1/index.html | grep -e "build" | sed 's/.*build\/\([0-9]*\)\/download.*/\1/g') >> $HOME/.bashrc
source $HOME/.bashrc

Update cabal and verify the correct versions were installed successfully.

cabal update
cabal -V
ghc -V

​🏗 2. Build the node from source code

Download source code and switch to the latest tag.

cd $HOME/git
git clone https://github.com/input-output-hk/cardano-node.git
cd cardano-node
git fetch --all --recurse-submodules --tags
git checkout tags/1.25.1

Configure build options.

cabal configure -O0 -w ghc-8.10.2

Update the cabal config, project settings, and reset build folder.

echo -e "package cardano-crypto-praos\n flags: -external-libsodium-vrf" > cabal.project.local
sed -i $HOME/.cabal/config -e "s/overwrite-policy:/overwrite-policy: always/g"
rm -rf $HOME/git/cardano-node/dist-newstyle/build/x86_64-linux/ghc-8.10.2

Build the cardano-node from source code.

cabal build cardano-cli cardano-node

Copy cardano-cli and cardano-node files into bin directory.

sudo cp $(find $HOME/git/cardano-node/dist-newstyle/build -type f -name "cardano-cli") /usr/local/bin/cardano-cli

sudo cp $(find $HOME/git/cardano-node/dist-newstyle/build -type f -name "cardano-node") /usr/local/bin/cardano-node

Verify your cardano-cli and cardano-node are the expected versions.

cardano-node version
cardano-cli version

​📐 3. Configure the nodes

Here you'll grab the config.json, genesis.json, and topology.json files needed to configure your node.

mkdir $NODE_HOME
cd $NODE_HOME
wget -N https://hydra.iohk.io/build/${NODE_BUILD_NUM}/download/1/${NODE_CONFIG}-byron-genesis.json
wget -N https://hydra.iohk.io/build/${NODE_BUILD_NUM}/download/1/${NODE_CONFIG}-topology.json
wget -N https://hydra.iohk.io/build/${NODE_BUILD_NUM}/download/1/${NODE_CONFIG}-shelley-genesis.json
wget -N https://hydra.iohk.io/build/${NODE_BUILD_NUM}/download/1/${NODE_CONFIG}-config.json

Run the following to modify mainnet-config.json and

• update TraceBlockFetchDecisions to "true"

sed -i ${NODE_CONFIG}-config.json \
    -e "s/TraceBlockFetchDecisions\": false/TraceBlockFetchDecisions\": true/g"

Update .bashrc shell variables.

echo export CARDANO_NODE_SOCKET_PATH="$NODE_HOME/db/socket" >> $HOME/.bashrc
source $HOME/.bashrc

​🔮 4. Configure the block-producer node

On your block-producer node, run the following. Update the addr with your relay node's public IP address.

cat > $NODE_HOME/${NODE_CONFIG}-topology.json << EOF 
 {
    "Producers": [
      {
        "addr": "<RELAYNODE1'S PUBLIC IP ADDRESS>",
        "port": 6000,
        "valency": 1
      }
    ]
  }
EOF

​🛸 5. Configure the relay node(s)

On your relaynode1, run with the following after updating with your block producer's public IP address.

cat > $NODE_HOME/${NODE_CONFIG}-topology.json << EOF 
 {
    "Producers": [
      {
        "addr": "<BLOCK PRODUCER NODE'S PUBLIC IP ADDRESS>",
        "port": 6000,
        "valency": 1
      },
      {
        "addr": "relays-new.cardano-mainnet.iohk.io",
        "port": 3001,
        "valency": 2
      }
    ]
  }
EOF

​🔏 6. Configure the air-gapped offline machine

echo export NODE_HOME=$HOME/cardano-my-node >> $HOME/.bashrc
source $HOME/.bashrc
mkdir -p $NODE_HOME

Copy from your hot environment, also known as your block producer node, a copy of the cardano-cli binaries to your cold environment, this air-gapped offline machine.

​🤖 7. Create startup scripts

The startup script contains all the variables needed to run a cardano-node such as directory, port, db path, config file, and topology file.

cat > $NODE_HOME/startBlockProducingNode.sh << EOF 
#!/bin/bash
DIRECTORY=$NODE_HOME
PORT=6000
HOSTADDR=0.0.0.0
TOPOLOGY=\${DIRECTORY}/${NODE_CONFIG}-topology.json
DB_PATH=\${DIRECTORY}/db
SOCKET_PATH=\${DIRECTORY}/db/socket
CONFIG=\${DIRECTORY}/${NODE_CONFIG}-config.json
/usr/local/bin/cardano-node run --topology \${TOPOLOGY} --database-path \${DB_PATH} --socket-path \${SOCKET_PATH} --host-addr \${HOSTADDR} --port \${PORT} --config \${CONFIG}
EOF

cat > $NODE_HOME/startRelayNode1.sh << EOF 
#!/bin/bash
DIRECTORY=$NODE_HOME
PORT=6000
HOSTADDR=0.0.0.0
TOPOLOGY=\${DIRECTORY}/${NODE_CONFIG}-topology.json
DB_PATH=\${DIRECTORY}/db
SOCKET_PATH=\${DIRECTORY}/db/socket
CONFIG=\${DIRECTORY}/${NODE_CONFIG}-config.json
/usr/local/bin/cardano-node run --topology \${TOPOLOGY} --database-path \${DB_PATH} --socket-path \${SOCKET_PATH} --host-addr \${HOSTADDR} --port \${PORT} --config \${CONFIG}
EOF

Add execute permissions to the startup script.

chmod +x $NODE_HOME/startBlockProducingNode.sh

chmod +x $NODE_HOME/startRelayNode1.sh 

Run the following to create a systemd unit file to define yourcardano-node.service configuration.

cat > $NODE_HOME/cardano-node.service << EOF 
# The Cardano node service (part of systemd)
# file: /etc/systemd/system/cardano-node.service 
​
[Unit]
Description     = Cardano node service
Wants           = network-online.target
After           = network-online.target 
​
[Service]
User            = ${USER}
Type            = simple
WorkingDirectory= ${NODE_HOME}
ExecStart       = /bin/bash -c '${NODE_HOME}/startBlockProducingNode.sh'
KillSignal=SIGINT
RestartKillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=2
LimitNOFILE=32768
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
​
[Install]
WantedBy	= multi-user.target
EOF

cat > $NODE_HOME/cardano-node.service << EOF 
# The Cardano node service (part of systemd)
# file: /etc/systemd/system/cardano-node.service 
​
[Unit]
Description     = Cardano node service
Wants           = network-online.target
After           = network-online.target 
​
[Service]
User            = ${USER}
Type            = simple
WorkingDirectory= ${NODE_HOME}
ExecStart       = /bin/bash -c '${NODE_HOME}/startRelayNode1.sh'
KillSignal=SIGINT
RestartKillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=2
LimitNOFILE=32768
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
​
[Install]
WantedBy	= multi-user.target
EOF

Move the unit file to /etc/systemd/system and give it permissions.

sudo mv $NODE_HOME/cardano-node.service /etc/systemd/system/cardano-node.service

sudo chmod 644 /etc/systemd/system/cardano-node.service

Run the following to enable auto-starting of your stake pool at boot time.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable cardano-node

​🔎 View the status of the node service

sudo systemctl status cardano-node

​🔄 Restarting the node service

sudo systemctl reload-or-restart cardano-node

​🛑 Stopping the node service

sudo systemctl stop cardano-node

🗄 Viewing and filter logs

journalctl --unit=cardano-node --follow

journalctl --unit=cardano-node --since=yesterday

journalctl --unit=cardano-node --since=today

journalctl --unit=cardano-node --since='2020-07-29 00:00:00' --until='2020-07-29 12:00:00'

​✅ 8. Start the nodes

Start your stake pool with systemctl and begin syncing the blockchain!

sudo systemctl start cardano-node

sudo systemctl start cardano-node

Install gLiveView, a monitoring tool.

cd $NODE_HOME
sudo apt install bc tcptraceroute -y
curl -s -o gLiveView.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-community/guild-operators/master/scripts/cnode-helper-scripts/gLiveView.sh
curl -s -o env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-community/guild-operators/master/scripts/cnode-helper-scripts/env
chmod 755 gLiveView.sh

Run the following to modify env with the updated file locations.

sed -i env \
    -e "s/\#CONFIG=\"\${CNODE_HOME}\/files\/config.json\"/CONFIG=\"\${NODE_HOME}\/mainnet-config.json\"/g" \
    -e "s/\#SOCKET=\"\${CNODE_HOME}\/sockets\/node0.socket\"/SOCKET=\"\${NODE_HOME}\/db\/socket\"/g"

journalctl --unit=cardano-node --follow

Run gLiveView to monitor the progress of the sync'ing of the blockchain.

./gLiveView.sh

Sample output of gLiveView.

For more information, refer to the official Guild Live View docs.​

​⚙ 9. Generate block-producer keys

The block-producer node requires you to create 3 keys as defined in the Shelley ledger specs:

• stake pool cold key (node.cert)

• stake pool hot key (kes.skey)

• stake pool VRF key (vrf.skey)

First, make a KES key pair.

cd $NODE_HOME
cardano-cli node key-gen-KES \
    --verification-key-file kes.vkey \
    --signing-key-file kes.skey

Make a directory to store your cold keys

mkdir $HOME/cold-keys
pushd $HOME/cold-keys

Make a set of cold keys and create the cold counter file.

cardano-cli node key-gen \
    --cold-verification-key-file node.vkey \
    --cold-signing-key-file node.skey \
    --operational-certificate-issue-counter node.counter

Determine the number of slots per KES period from the genesis file.

pushd +1
slotsPerKESPeriod=$(cat $NODE_HOME/${NODE_CONFIG}-shelley-genesis.json | jq -r '.slotsPerKESPeriod')
echo slotsPerKESPeriod: ${slotsPerKESPeriod}

slotNo=$(cardano-cli query tip --mainnet | jq -r '.slotNo')
echo slotNo: ${slotNo}

Find the kesPeriod by dividing the slot tip number by the slotsPerKESPeriod.

kesPeriod=$((${slotNo} / ${slotsPerKESPeriod}))
echo kesPeriod: ${kesPeriod}
startKesPeriod=${kesPeriod}
echo startKesPeriod: ${startKesPeriod}

With this calculation, you can generate a operational certificate for your pool.

Copy kes.vkey to your cold environment.

Change the <startKesPeriod> value accordingly.

cardano-cli node issue-op-cert \
    --kes-verification-key-file kes.vkey \
    --cold-signing-key-file $HOME/cold-keys/node.skey \
    --operational-certificate-issue-counter $HOME/cold-keys/node.counter \
    --kes-period <startKesPeriod> \
    --out-file node.cert

Copy node.cert to your hot environment.

Make a VRF key pair.

cardano-cli node key-gen-VRF \
    --verification-key-file vrf.vkey \
    --signing-key-file vrf.skey

Update vrf key permissions to read-only.

chmod 400 vrf.skey

Stop your stake pool by running the following:

sudo systemctl stop cardano-node

Update your startup script with the new KES, VRF and Operation Certificate.

cat > $NODE_HOME/startBlockProducingNode.sh << EOF 
DIRECTORY=$NODE_HOME
PORT=6000
HOSTADDR=0.0.0.0
TOPOLOGY=\${DIRECTORY}/${NODE_CONFIG}-topology.json
DB_PATH=\${DIRECTORY}/db
SOCKET_PATH=\${DIRECTORY}/db/socket
CONFIG=\${DIRECTORY}/${NODE_CONFIG}-config.json
KES=\${DIRECTORY}/kes.skey
VRF=\${DIRECTORY}/vrf.skey
CERT=\${DIRECTORY}/node.cert
cardano-node run --topology \${TOPOLOGY} --database-path \${DB_PATH} --socket-path \${SOCKET_PATH} --host-addr \${HOSTADDR} --port \${PORT} --config \${CONFIG} --shelley-kes-key \${KES} --shelley-vrf-key \${VRF} --shelley-operational-certificate \${CERT}
EOF

Now start your block producer node.

sudo systemctl start cardano-node
​
# Monitor with gLiveView
./gLiveView.sh

​🔐 10. Setup payment and stake keys

First, obtain the protocol-parameters.

cardano-cli query protocol-parameters \
    --mainnet \
    --allegra-era \
    --out-file params.json

There are two ways to create your payment and stake key pair. Pick the one that best suits your needs.

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
cd $NODE_HOME
cardano-cli address key-gen \
    --verification-key-file payment.vkey \
    --signing-key-file payment.skey

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
cardano-cli stake-address key-gen \
    --verification-key-file stake.vkey \
    --signing-key-file stake.skey

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
cardano-cli stake-address build \
    --stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
    --out-file stake.addr \
    --mainnet

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
cardano-cli address build \
    --payment-verification-key-file payment.vkey \
    --stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
    --out-file payment.addr \
    --mainnet

###
### On block producer node,
###
cd $NODE_HOME
wget https://hydra.iohk.io/build/3662127/download/1/cardano-wallet-shelley-2020.7.28-linux64.tar.gz

echo "f75e5b2b4cc5f373d6b1c1235818bcab696d86232cb2c5905b2d91b4805bae84 *cardano-wallet-shelley-2020.7.28-linux64.tar.gz" | shasum -a 256 --check

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
tar -xvf cardano-wallet-shelley-2020.7.28-linux64.tar.gz
rm cardano-wallet-shelley-2020.7.28-linux64.tar.gz

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
cat > extractPoolStakingKeys.sh << HERE
#!/bin/bash 
​
CADDR=\${CADDR:=\$( which cardano-address )}
[[ -z "\$CADDR" ]] && ( echo "cardano-address cannot be found, exiting..." >&2 ; exit 127 )
​
CCLI=\${CCLI:=\$( which cardano-cli )}
[[ -z "\$CCLI" ]] && ( echo "cardano-cli cannot be found, exiting..." >&2 ; exit 127 )
​
OUT_DIR="\$1"
[[ -e "\$OUT_DIR"  ]] && {
       	echo "The \"\$OUT_DIR\" is already exist delete and run again." >&2 
       	exit 127
} || mkdir -p "\$OUT_DIR" && pushd "\$OUT_DIR" >/dev/null
​
shift
MNEMONIC="\$*"
​
# Generate the master key from mnemonics and derive the stake account keys 
# as extended private and public keys (xpub, xprv)
echo "\$MNEMONIC" |\
"\$CADDR" key from-recovery-phrase Shelley > root.prv
​
cat root.prv |\
"\$CADDR" key child 1852H/1815H/0H/2/0 > stake.xprv
​
cat root.prv |\
"\$CADDR" key child 1852H/1815H/0H/0/0 > payment.xprv
​
TESTNET=0
MAINNET=1
NETWORK=\$MAINNET
​
cat payment.xprv |\
"\$CADDR" key public | tee payment.xpub |\
"\$CADDR" address payment --network-tag \$NETWORK |\
"\$CADDR" address delegation \$(cat stake.xprv | "\$CADDR" key public | tee stake.xpub) |\
tee base.addr_candidate |\
"\$CADDR" address inspect
echo "Generated from 1852H/1815H/0H/{0,2}/0"
cat base.addr_candidate
echo
​
# XPrv/XPub conversion to normal private and public key, keep in mind the 
# keypars are not a valind Ed25519 signing keypairs.
TESTNET_MAGIC="--testnet-magic 42"
MAINNET_MAGIC="--mainnet"
MAGIC="\$MAINNET_MAGIC"
​
SESKEY=\$( cat stake.xprv | bech32 | cut -b -128 )\$( cat stake.xpub | bech32)
PESKEY=\$( cat payment.xprv | bech32 | cut -b -128 )\$( cat payment.xpub | bech32)
​
cat << EOF > stake.skey
{
    "type": "StakeExtendedSigningKeyShelley_ed25519_bip32",
    "description": "",
    "cborHex": "5880\$SESKEY"
}
EOF
​
cat << EOF > payment.skey
{
    "type": "PaymentExtendedSigningKeyShelley_ed25519_bip32",
    "description": "Payment Signing Key",
    "cborHex": "5880\$PESKEY"
}
EOF
​
"\$CCLI" shelley key verification-key --signing-key-file stake.skey --verification-key-file stake.evkey
"\$CCLI" shelley key verification-key --signing-key-file payment.skey --verification-key-file payment.evkey
​
"\$CCLI" shelley key non-extended-key --extended-verification-key-file payment.evkey --verification-key-file payment.vkey
"\$CCLI" shelley key non-extended-key --extended-verification-key-file stake.evkey --verification-key-file stake.vkey
​
​
"\$CCLI" shelley stake-address build --stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \$MAGIC > stake.addr
"\$CCLI" shelley address build --payment-verification-key-file payment.vkey \$MAGIC > payment.addr
"\$CCLI" shelley address build \
    --payment-verification-key-file payment.vkey \
    --stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
    \$MAGIC > base.addr
​
echo "Important the base.addr and the base.addr_candidate must be the same"
diff base.addr base.addr_candidate
popd >/dev/null
HERE

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
chmod +x extractPoolStakingKeys.sh
export PATH="$(pwd)/cardano-wallet-shelley-2020.7.28:$PATH"

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
./extractPoolStakingKeys.sh extractedPoolKeys/ <15|24-word length mnemonic>

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
cd extractedPoolKeys/
cp stake.vkey stake.skey stake.addr payment.vkey payment.skey base.addr $NODE_HOME
cd $NODE_HOME
#Rename to base.addr file to payment.addr
mv base.addr payment.addr

###
### On air-gapped offline machine,
###
history -c && history -w
rm -rf $NODE_HOME/cardano-wallet-shelley-2020.7.28

Next step is to fund your payment address.

Copy payment.addr to your hot environment.

Payment address can be funded from your Daedalus / Yoroi wallet.

Run the following to find your payment address.

cat payment.addr

After funding your account, check your payment address balance.

cardano-cli query utxo \
    --address $(cat payment.addr) \
    --allegra-era \
    --mainnet

You should see output similar to this. This is your unspent transaction output (UXTO).

                           TxHash                                 TxIx        Lovelace
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100322a39d02c2ead....                                              0        1000000000

​👩💻 11. Register your stake address

Create a certificate, stake.cert, using the stake.vkey

cardano-cli stake-address registration-certificate \
    --stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
    --out-file stake.cert

Copy stake.cert to your hot environment.

You need to find the tip of the blockchain to set the invalid-hereafter parameter properly.

currentSlot=$(cardano-cli query tip --mainnet | jq -r '.slotNo')
echo Current Slot: $currentSlot

Find your balance and UTXOs.

cardano-cli query utxo \
    --address $(cat payment.addr) \
    --allegra-era \
    --mainnet > fullUtxo.out
​
tail -n +3 fullUtxo.out | sort -k3 -nr > balance.out
​
cat balance.out
​
tx_in=""
total_balance=0
while read -r utxo; do
    in_addr=$(awk '{ print $1 }' <<< "${utxo}")
    idx=$(awk '{ print $2 }' <<< "${utxo}")
    utxo_balance=$(awk '{ print $3 }' <<< "${utxo}")
    total_balance=$((${total_balance}+${utxo_balance}))
    echo TxHash: ${in_addr}#${idx}
    echo ADA: ${utxo_balance}
    tx_in="${tx_in} --tx-in ${in_addr}#${idx}"
done < balance.out
txcnt=$(cat balance.out | wc -l)
echo Total ADA balance: ${total_balance}
echo Number of UTXOs: ${txcnt}

Find the keyDeposit value.

keyDeposit=$(cat $NODE_HOME/params.json | jq -r '.keyDeposit')
echo keyDeposit: $keyDeposit

Run the build-raw transaction command

cardano-cli transaction build-raw \
    ${tx_in} \
    --tx-out $(cat payment.addr)+0 \
    --invalid-hereafter $(( ${currentSlot} + 10000)) \
    --fee 0 \
    --out-file tx.tmp \
    --allegra-era \
    --certificate stake.cert

Calculate the current minimum fee:

fee=$(cardano-cli transaction calculate-min-fee \
    --tx-body-file tx.tmp \
    --tx-in-count ${txcnt} \
    --tx-out-count 1 \
    --mainnet \
    --witness-count 2 \
    --byron-witness-count 0 \
    --protocol-params-file params.json | awk '{ print $1 }')
echo fee: $fee

Calculate your change output.

txOut=$((${total_balance}-${keyDeposit}-${fee}))
echo Change Output: ${txOut}

Build your transaction which will register your stake address.

cardano-cli transaction build-raw \
    ${tx_in} \
    --tx-out $(cat payment.addr)+${txOut} \
    --invalid-hereafter $(( ${currentSlot} + 10000)) \
    --fee ${fee} \
    --certificate-file stake.cert \
    --allegra-era \
    --out-file tx.raw

Copy tx.raw to your cold environment.

Sign the transaction with both the payment and stake secret keys.

cardano-cli transaction sign \
    --tx-body-file tx.raw \
    --signing-key-file payment.skey \
    --signing-key-file stake.skey \
    --mainnet \
    --out-file tx.signed

Copy tx.signed to your hot environment.

Send the signed transaction.

cardano-cli transaction submit \
    --tx-file tx.signed \
    --mainnet

​📄 12. Register your stake pool

Create your pool's metadata with a JSON file. Update with your pool information.

cat > poolMetaData.json << EOF
{
"name": "MyPoolName",
"description": "My pool description",
"ticker": "MPN",
"homepage": "https://myadapoolnamerocks.com"
}
EOF

Calculate the hash of your metadata file.

cardano-cli stake-pool metadata-hash --pool-metadata-file poolMetaData.json > poolMetaDataHash.txt

Now upload your poolMetaData.json to your website or a public website such as https://pages.github.com/​

Refer to the following quick guide if you need help hosting your metadata on github.com

Find the minimum pool cost.

minPoolCost=$(cat $NODE_HOME/params.json | jq -r .minPoolCost)
echo minPoolCost: ${minPoolCost}

Create a registration certificate for your stake pool. Update with your metadata URL and your relay node information. Choose one of the three options available to configure relay nodes -- DNS based, Round Robin DNS based, or IP based.

    --single-host-pool-relay relaynode1.myadapoolnamerocks.com\
    --pool-relay-port 6000 \
    --single-host-pool-relay relaynode2.myadapoolnamerocks.com\
    --pool-relay-port 6000 \